[Shop-talk] Cotter Usage

[Bob Spidell]

Got some 'quiet time' before I have to go look after my mom, and I 
thought I'd pose an arcane question to the List:

What do y'all consider the proper way to use a cotter key/pin? I've 
watched the pros on TV--Edd China, Ant Anstead, Goblin Garage, 
Fantomworks, etc. and the 'Chop it/Channel It/Drop a Crate Engine In 
It/Bag It/Put Huge Dubs and a Gaudy Paint Job On It and Call It a Day' 
hotrod builders, and they all do it a bit different. Usually, it's 'Type 
1'--see terrible hand-drawn 'art' attached (using a stub axle for 
example)--but I gave it a lot of thought and wondered 'Is that the best 
way?' Thinking it through, yes, any way you put a cotter in and secure 
it will do the job; i.e. keep the nut from coming completely undone. 
However, when safety-wiring--a skill I sorta learned maintaining my own 
aircraft--you're supposed to always wire so as to pull in the tightening 
direction, to resist any turning at all of the nut/bolt. So, when 
applicable--e.g. on castellated nuts--I torque until the cotter will 
just fit in the hole (drawing# 2), situated 'sideways'--where you can't 
see the eye of the cotter from the side--snug against the side of the 
nut's slot so as to resist the nut turning at all. Then, I bend the 
upper half of the cotter back over the nut/spindle, and snip the lower 
half at the edge of the nut, figuring anything longer than that isn't 
doing anything (plus it just looks neater IMO, and may be easier to 
remove if necessary).

FWIW, my late father, who was an auto shop teacher and had a few 
psychology classes under his belt said I was 'stuck at the anal 
retentive stage' of child development; I (think) he was kidding.

Bob
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